The Best Sale I Never Made

I was at a networking event last night and got chatting to an executive leadership coach.

Somewhere between the prosecco and the disappointment of no canapés, we got into a conversation about client alignment.

In executive coaching, you're often someone's accountability partner. You're showing senior, successful people a mirror to look into. This can be uncomfortable. And any coaching is only as good as the amount of work the other person is prepared to put in.

So there are times when this coach walks away from people who aren't a fit.

Not because they can't afford him. Not because they're difficult. But because the alignment isn't there. And misalignment wastes everyone's time.

"The clients who push back hardest on investment," he said, "are the ones least likely to do the work."

It reminded me of a meeting I had in 2015. One I should have walked away from sooner.

_{The £25,000 Meeting I Should Have Ended Earlier}

By 2015, I'd been running a graduate assessment programme as part of BMS Performance for three years. We worked with companies to hire, assess, and develop graduate talent.

The companies that succeeded with us understood something important: our programme was an investment, not a handover.

We'd find the talent. We'd assess them rigorously. We'd support the onboarding. But we weren't delivering ready-made employees who required zero input. The client still needed to provide the right environment, the right training, the right culture.

The companies who got this did brilliantly. The ones who didn't—who negotiated heavily on terms, who saw graduates as cheap labour, who expected us to do all the work—never worked out.

I should have seen the warning signs in this particular meeting.

The Marketing Director was leading the conversation. Great person. Highly capable marketing professional. But not experienced in hiring or managing salespeople, let alone graduates. I was already concerned.

Halfway through, the CEO walked in and decided to take over.

He looked at me and asked: "Why are you better than [competitor]?"

I paused.

"I'm not saying I am at this stage. I'm still trying to understand your situation and whether there's a fit for us to work together."

The room went quiet.

I continued. Made it clear that the commitment and investment required to make graduate hires successful shouldn't be underestimated. That this wasn't a quick fix or a cheap resource play. That alignment mattered more than price.

The meeting concluded shortly after.

We agreed there wasn't a fit.

I walked away from a £25,000 contract.

_{What Bad Business Looks Like}

Here's what I learned that day, and what the executive coach reminded me of last night:

Bad business isn't always obvious at first glance.

It's not the client who shouts at you or refuses to pay invoices (though those are bad too). It's often the client who:

• Doesn't understand what success requires from their side
• Treats your service as a commodity rather than a partnership
• Leads with "why are you better?" instead of "is this a fit?"
• Hasn't done the internal work to be ready for what you're offering

In 2015, the warning signs were all there:

The Marketing Director was out of their depth on this project (not their fault—wrong person, wrong brief).

The CEO walked in mid-meeting and immediately tried to control the conversation.

The question wasn't "how do we make this work?" It was "why should we choose you?"

They wanted a vendor. I was offering a partnership.

_{The Real Cost of Bad Business}

If I'd taken that £25K contract, here's what would have happened:

We'd have placed graduates. The company wouldn't have invested in training them properly. The graduates would have struggled or left. The company would have blamed us. The relationship would have soured. We'd have spent months firefighting instead of serving clients who valued the work.

And I'd have damaged our reputation in the process.

Walking away from bad business isn't just about protecting your time. It's about protecting your standards.

The executive coach was right. The clients who resist investment upfront are the ones least likely to do the work. And without that work, no programme—no matter how good—can succeed.

_{Know What Bad Business Looks Like for You}

Not every misalignment is as obvious as a CEO hijacking a meeting. Sometimes it's subtler:

• The prospect who negotiates on every line item before they've even committed
• The client who wants results but won't invest in the process
• The relationship where you're always chasing, always justifying, always defending

Bad business exhausts you. Good business energises you.

The companies we did brilliant work with in that graduate programme? They asked different questions:

"What do we need to do to make this successful?"

"How do we set these graduates up to thrive?"

"What's our responsibility in this partnership?"

Those relationships worked. Those clients got exceptional results. And they referred us to other companies who thought the same way.

_{Your Bad Business Audit}

This week, I challenge you to:

1. Define what bad business looks like for you

• What are the warning signs in your industry?
• What behaviours or attitudes predict failure?
• What questions reveal misalignment early?

2. Audit your current client list

• Which relationships energise you?
• Which ones drain you?
• Are there any you should walk away from?

3. Create qualification criteria before you pitch

• What needs to be true for this to be good business?
• What questions will reveal whether alignment exists?
• At what point will you walk away?

The best sale I never made taught me something more valuable than £25,000:

Not all revenue is good revenue. And knowing what bad business looks like is just as important as knowing what good business looks like.

Walking away from that contract was one of the best decisions I made that year.

What does bad business look like for you?

‍

‍

‍